Kormas and nut based creamy sauces are the Persian influence in India. This one is a curry from Kashmir the Northern most part of India.

I Green Bell pepper cubed

1 Cup Onions Chopped

1 Jalapeno sliced

4 Cloves garlic peeled and minced

4 Cups Frozen mixed Vegetables, Peas, Carrots Beans and Corn

1 Cup Tomato Paste

½ Cup Whipping Cream

½ Cup Cilantro chopped

4 Tbs. Clarified Butter

1 Tbs. Fenugreek Seeds

1 Tbs. Ground Cumin Seeds

1 Tsp. Garam Masala

1 Tbs. Salt

Heat the clarified butter and add the fenugreek seeds till they sizzle. Fry the onions and bell pepper together till the flavor starts to come out. Add garlic , jalapenos, and fry some. Put in the mixed vegetables, salt and ground cumin. Then add the vegetables and cook on medium heat till everything is well mixed and cooked. Add the tomato paste, cream, cilantro and garam masala. The curry should be thick. Serve with Indian flatbread or over Basmati Rice.

Garam Masala. There are many different ways to make this mix.

Equal amounts of Cloves, Cardamom and Cinnamon ground together. This is your basic Garam Masala.

Daal Makhani is a favorite lentil delicacy from Punjab, North India. Any Indian full course dinner or lunch must have some type of lentil in the menu. Lentils are cooked into a spicy gravy and are used as a dipping for flatbreads or to spread over rice. Lentils can also be soaked and blended into a puree and fried as appetizers. In South India lentils are soaked, ground and mixed with rice powder to make crepes. These crepes are called Dosas or they may be filled with spicy potato filling and rolled into Masala Dosas or spicy crepes. Lentils are an excellent source of protein and each state in India and each village cooks them in their own special way. When you visit an Indian Grocery store you will see many different varieties of the lentil. These lentils are also available at Asian or Far East markets. Today’s lentil recipe will use three different types of lentils.

1 Cup Urad Daal whole or Kali Daal or Black Lentils whole and not split available at Indian Groceries

½ Cup Split Mung Bean Daal also available at Indian Grocery stores

½ Cup Chana Daal or split Chickpea Lentils available at Indian or Asian Grocery stores

1 Tsp. Turmeric Powder

½ Tsp. Cayenne Pepper Powder

1 Tsp. Whole Cumin Seeds

2 or 3 Whole dried Cayenne Peppers

1 Cup Onions chopped fine

1 Tbs. Fresh Ginger peeled and grated

2 or 3 Cloves of Garlic peeled and grated

1 Cup Tomato Paste or 1½ Cups fresh Tomatoes chopped

1 Tbs. Jalapenos or any hot Green Chilies like Serranos or Thai Hot chopped

1 Cup Cilantro chopped

1 Tbs. Garam Masala Punjab Style recipe included

1 Cup Whipping Cream for garnish

1 Tbs. Salt or to taste

1 Tsp. Sugar

5 Tbs. Ghee or clarified Butter. You can get this at Vitamin Cottage or Indian Groceries or make your own by simmering unsalted butter till the milk solids separate and then strain it out.

6 Cups Water (you may need more)

First take six cups of water in a big pot and bring it to a boil. Wash all the lentils together and put it to the boiling water. Add the turmeric and cayenne pepper powders in the pot. Let it simmer in medium or medium low heat for about forty five minutes to an hour until the lentils almost falls apart. You might need more water if the lentils are not cooked and the water is all gone. With a hand blender or egg beater blend the lentil to a smooth paste. Add salt and sugar and set it aside.

In a pot or frying pan heat four tablespoons of ghee and add the whole cumin seeds and whole cayenne peppers. When they start popping add the onions and start frying. After the onions are light brown, add the garlic and the ginger paste and after about one minute put in the tomato paste. Fry this for a little bit till the liquid goes away, then mix this spice mixture with the blended daal or lentil.

Bring the whole thing to a boil and simmer for about fifteen minutes for all the flavors to develop and mix together. Add Garam Masala, the rest of the ghee and the hot green chilies. Serve hot in bowls with some cilantro and a scoop of whipping cream as garnish on top. Enjoy! The lentil mixture in this dish varies from chef to chef.

This is a very simple and tasty vegetable. This can be served with Basmati rice or with Indian flatbreads.

2 Cups Potatoes peeled and cubed

2 Cups Cauliflower Florets

1Cup Peas

4 Tbs. Cooking Oil

1 Tbs Whole Cumin Seeds

1 tbs. Jalapenos chopped

1 Tbs. Turmeric Powder

1 Tbs Paprika Powder

1 Tbs. Salt

1 Tbs Sugar

1 Cup Water

1 Tbs. Clarified Butter

1 Tsp. Garam Masala

Heat the oil in a pot and add the cumin seeds and jalapenos. After frying them for sometime add the potatoes. After the potatoes are fried for sometime add the cauliflower florets and all the ground spices, salt, sugar and peas. Add one cup of water and when everything is heated cover and simmer on low heat for about twenty minutes, stirring in between. After everything is cooked add the garam masala and ghee and serve.

4 Cups Overcooked Rice (Cooked until it is soggy)

1 Cup Plain Yogurt

1 Tsp. Mustard Seed

2 Cayenne Peppers, dried (or 1 Tsp. Crushed red pepper)

1 Tsp. Black Gram Lentils (available in Indian and Thai grocery stores, goes by the name of Urad Daal)

1 Jalapeno, chopped fine

10-12 Curry leaves, fresh or dried

1 Tbs. Cooking Oil

1 Tsp. Salt (or to taste)

Beat the Rice with a spoon, and set it aside. Whip the yogurt with salt, and set it aside. Heat the oil; add the mustard seed, lentils, and cayenne peppers. When these start to change color and splatter, add the curry leaves and the green chilies. Fry for one minute and then take it off the heat and mix in the yogurt. Mix in the rice and then let it sit for about one hour before serving.

This is a tasty rice dish from south India. It goes very well with spicy hot and dry curries and meat preparations. This dish will also help cool you off on bone melting hot days. Curry Leaves are available fresh or dry at Asian and Indian grocery stores.

Greek desserts are typically very sweet with a lot of fat content. One of the most popular one is Baklava, a dessert made with phyllo pastry, nuts and sweets. Another variation of the Baklava is Sourota, which is a Baklava Roll. When I was in a Loreto School in Calcutta India, one of my classmates was called Athena and was originally from Greece. Her grandmother used to come from Greece every summer to visit her. I took a few notes while watching her make this dessert and I have worked on refining this recipe ever since. This is the sweet result.

Ingredients:

2 Cups Shelled unsalted Pecans

2 Cups Shelled unsalted Walnuts

2 Cups Shelled unsalted Pistachios

2 Cups Almonds without skin

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Cup Corn Syrup

1 Tsp. Ground Cinnamon

½ Tsp. Ground Cloves

½ Tsp. Ground Nutmeg

1 Tbs. Grated Orange Zest

2 Tbs. Brandy (Optional)

1 Lb. Phyllo pastry

16 oz. Unsalted Butter melted

Pre Heat oven to 325 degrees

In a food processor or grinder, first grind the nuts finely. Take a bowl and mix well the ground nuts, brown sugar, corn syrup, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, about quarter cup of the melted butter, orange zest and the brandy. This is the filling for the phyllo pastry.

Take about 2 Tbs. of the butter and grease the bottom of a 14 by 18 by 2 inches deep pan or casserole. If you have a smaller pan cut the phyllo pastry to fit the pan. Frozen phyllo pastry should be defrosted in the refrigerator and not over the counter because at room temperature the pastry sheets will stick to each other. Work with one sheet at a time and keep the rest covered with a damp cloth or plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out. Try to be fast while working with phyllo sheets and always pre heat your oven before you put your Baklava in.

Take eight sheets of phyllo one by one and brush both sides liberally with butter. Place them one on top of another in the pan. Put one thin layer of the nut mixture evenly on top of the eighth layer and press it down very lightly. Take three more phyllo sheets, butter each one on both sides and layer them on top of the nut mixture. Put another thin layer of nut mixture on the phyllo and continue layering about three sheets between each thin layer of nut mixture until you have used up the nuts. After you layer the last nut mixture put eight phyllo sheets buttered on both sides as a covering for the Baklava.

You may spread out and overlap sheets so that you cover the entire pan. If you have leftover nut mixture you can freeze it for future use. You can freeze unbaked Baklava and then thaw and bake it some other time.

With a very sharp knife score the top of the Baklava diagonally from upper left to lower right and from upper right to lower left to make little diamond shapes. This is the traditional shape for Baklava but any other shape is fine. Do not cut all the way through. Leave the bottom quarter inches of the Baklava uncut. Pour about three tablespoons of butter over the top of your Baklava and bake at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes or until golden but not brown in color.

The Syrup

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Honey

1 Tbs. Grated Lemon Zest

2 Tbs. Lemon Juice

1 Stick Cinnamon

1 Cup Water

Boil the syrup ingredients for about 20 minutes or until it thickens up like syrup.

After you take the Baklava out of the oven, pour the hot syrup carefully over the top and let it sit for at least five hours or overnight. It will be very easy to separate the Baklava into the diamond shapes before you serve. Enjoy!

The word Khichuri literally means a hotchpotch or a mixture

2 Cups Mung Bean Dal, or split yellow Lentils available at the Indian Groceries or Asian and Thai markets. You could substitute with split Red Lentils available at regular grocery stores.

1 Cup Basmati Rice

4 Tbs. Ghee, clarified butter, or cooking oil

2 Bay Leaves

2 Whole Cayenne Peppers

1 Tsp. Cumin Seeds, whole

1 Jalapeno or two Serranos chopped fine

1 Tsp. Asafoetida or Hing powder (available at Asian or Indian grocers)

1 Tomato chopped, about one cup

1 Tbs. Fresh ginger peeled and grated

1Tsp. Turmeric powder

1 Tbs. Roasted and ground Cumin Seeds

1Tbs. Salt

1Tbs. Sugar

1Tsp Garam Masala (Equal amounts of Cardamom Cinnamon and Clove ground together)

6 Cups Water (You might need more)

In a big stockpot boil about 6 cups of water. Wash the Mung Bean Dal and put it in the pot with the turmeric powder. After the dal gets soft and starts to fall apart add the Basmati Rice. After the Basmati Rice cooks for about five minutes add the roasted Cumin Seed Powder. The consistency of this dish should be like the American chili. If you need more water add hot water so as not to slow down the cooking. After the rice is cooked but not glutinous turn the heat off the pot but keep it covered.

In a small pan heat three tablespoons of the ghee or oil. Put the bay leaves, cumin seeds, whole cayenne peppers whole and the Asafoetida. Keep stirring constantly and reduce the heat so as not to burn. Add the grated ginger and fry it a little bit. When the flavor starts coming out and the ginger turns a little light brown in color, mix the whole thing in the stockpot with the salt and sugar and start simmering it again. Add the green chilies, the remaining tablespoon of the ghee and the Garam Masala. Serve hot. You can be creative and add different types of vegetables to this stew. This stew is a meal in itself.

1/2 Cup Fine sugar

1 Cup Brown sugar

1 Tbs. Salt

1Tbs. Peeled and grated fresh ginger

1 Tbs. Whole mustard seeds

1 Tsp. Crushed red pepper

1 Tbs. Cooking oil

Heat the oil in a pot and put the mustard seeds and the crushed peppers in. When they start popping add the ginger. Fry the ginger a little bit and then add the cranberries, sugars, salt and simmer the chutney in medium heat till the cranberries are mushy and there is a thick gravy. Serve as a condiment or sweet chutney on the side with dinner.

1 Green lime juiced.

1 Tsp. Roasted and ground Ground Cumin seeds.

1 Tsp. Kala Namak or Rock Salt Powder available at Indian Groceries already powdered and if not available, use regular Salt.

1 Tsp. Sugar

1 Cup Plain Yogurt

1 Cup Chopped Cilantro

2 Tbs. Fresh Mint Leaves minced fine

Mix everything together in a bowl and serve as a condiment with dinner or as an appetizer with chips.

This cuisine is a special one and it is better to search for small sized whole vegetables.

1 Cup Small whole potatoes.

1 Cup Small onions peeled

1 Cup Frozen peas

1 Cup Butternut Squash peeled, and chopped

1 Cup Baby carrots

1 Bunch Spinach Leaves

1 Cup Brussel Sprouts

2 Plantains

2 Tarro Root this can be found in Asian markets or in regular grocery stores

You can be creative and add any vegetables. Do not stick to the rules, if you have bigger vegetables cut them in chunks.

Boil the vegetables together with 1 cup of water and after they are cooked try to dry the water up as much as possible on high heat taking care not to burn them. Cool the vegetables and mix them in a bowl with:

2 Tbs. Mustard Oil available at Asian or Indian Groceries. You can also use Ghee or Clarified Butter

1 Tbs. Ground hot mustard powder

1 Tbs. Salt

1 Green Lime or Yellow Lemon juiced

1/2 Cup Chopped cilantro

1 Jalapeno or two Serranos chopped.

Serve with plain rice or the rice and lentil stew.

4 Big Potatoes boiled, peeled and cubed.

1 Tbs. Ground Black Pepper

1 Tbs. Ghee or Clarified Butter or cooking oil

1 Tsp. Salt.

1 Cup Water

In a pan or cooking pot heat the ghee or clarified butter, or canola oil. Add the potatoes and salt and start cooking on medium heat until the potatoes mix well with everything. Add the ground black pepper and keep cooking. Add the water, lower the heat and simmer covered until the potatoes are more soft and the water is dried up. Serve over rice, toasted bread or with Kitchuri.